The slow, leisurely pace of walking in the midst of natural beauty creates a wonderful disposition for learning and loving the lovely that will seep into the home and classroom. I find it gratifying to hear how many homeschooling families and some classical schools have recovered the “nature walk” as part of their curriculum. Every feast will involve some hard work of preparation and cleanup, yet the feast itself will make this work merry work, work filled with purpose and satisfaction. To use Sarah Mackenzie’s words, the curriculum will be turned into a feast. But his educational course won’t be busywork that fills his day or mere repetition of facts without understanding.
This does not mean that a student won’t work with diligence-he will. Learning becomes permanent not when we race through our studies, but when we find time to linger, ponder, and savor that worth knowing-the true, the good, and the beautiful. He was called the “peripatetic philosopher,” for he would teach his students while taking them on a walk around the Lyceum. We should walk it, for we are neither horses nor charioteers.Īristotle seemed to understand this. A liberal arts curriculum is to be the course of studies we present to our students, but we ought not to run the course. The irony here may be obvious: we take our curriculum far too literally-we run with it. The Latin verb curro means “I run.” From this verb we get such English derivatives as current (running water) and cursive (a running script) and discursive (running to and fro). We could go further with this etymological study.
#Other words for running its course full
It is the Latin word for “race course,” “course,” “lap,” and “career.” The related adverb curriculo means “at full speed.” Think of the Romans enjoying a chariot race at the Circus Maximus and you will be thinking as the Romans did about curriculum. It “covers material.” The classical approach retains a tradition of contemplation, leisure, and encounter-we might even say the “uncovering” of that which is true, good, and beautiful.Įven the word curriculum is instructive. The modern approach is frenzied, frenetic, busy, quantifiable, and data-driven. At this point of choosing curriculum, we are likely to import our modern sensibilities of education right into or on top of the classical approach. This is a good place to pause and reflect. Still, we jump in and start researching and buying classical “curricula.” Feeling peaceful yet? What’s more, we are confused by the differing conceptions of “classical” offered by various experts. We are not sure what it is, having not received a classical education ourselves. Then we decide to implement a classical curriculum. That proof (in our minds) usually consists of our kids being smarter and brighter than their kids. We must prove to our skeptical relatives and neighbors that we have made a wise choice.
This can heighten anxiety: we have invested so much to do this that it had better go well. Families pursuing a classical education at home or in a private school make great sacrifices (in terms of time and money) to educate their children.No, let’s reject these and return to the basics! Our modern moment is full of educational controversy: More STEM! No, let’s make that STEAM (the A is for art)! More standardized assessments Common Core Standards.How do we give to our kids what we have not received? If we have adopted the aims of a classical, liberal arts education (a fine goal) we remain uncertain of what to do.We are not confident that we have had a great education, so we are hesitant to just give our children what we received. Many are uncertain about what a good education should be, so we don’t know what we are aiming for.There are a lot of reasons why parents have become anxious about education:
Clearly, like traditional-school parents, homeschool and private-school parents struggle to maintain a “balanced life.” Put another way, most parents and students must confront educational stress and anxiety. The topic for the webinar was “Curriculum Is Not Something You Buy.” Just last night I hosted a webinar with author Sarah Mackenzie, who wrote Teaching from Rest.